Abstract
This corpus-based study investigates variables that may affect the selection of implicit/explicit markers in L1 and L2 English for object relative clauses (ORCs). The results show that compared to L1ers, L2ers choose the implicit marker far more often than the explicit marker. L2ers’ marker selection in writing has much in common with that of L1ers’ in spoken English. L1ers’ selection is affected by a number of variables in a balanced way, while L2ers’ selection can be largely predicted by a few variables: the accessibility of the ORC subject, the filler-gap dependency distance (DD), and the predicate length (PL). Overall, L2ers demonstrate strong entrenchment in ORC production and marker selection. This study argues that L2ers’ marker selection is primarily motivated by processing effort, yet the frequency effect and their L2 proficiency are complementary to its full plausibility.
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